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A National Ecosystem Services Classification System (NESCS) – NESCS as a Nexus for Ecosystem Services Research, Policy, Effects, and Valuation Charles Rhodes ORISE Post-Doctoral Fellow U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water – Water Policy Staff, Office of Research and Development – Western Ecology Division NESCS Workshop II: Progress and Prospects U.S. EPA 17 September 2013

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What is the relation between the industrial society upon which we depend and the ecosystems which we depend on for resources? Can human activity upset or harm ecosystem dynamics from which we draw? Is there waste, pollution, or environmental destruction? What is the scale of these relative to natural cycles of generation and regeneration? Is the scale changing over time, and if so, in what manner?

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November 2, 1952

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Ecosystem services are harder to account for: harder to define, harder to measure, harder to abate. Efficient rational decision making values, in order: facts  facts  known probabilities  lesser-known possibilities  unknowns and conjecture So while appealing in theory, it is harder to get traction for ecosystem services in concrete policy debates.

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The intensity The scale of human activities that affect the environment matters Measuring the scale and intensity What is the relation between the industrial society upon which we depend and the ecosystems which we depend on for resources?

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natural sciences Measure from physics up through physical and biological systems What to measure? How cross the “divide” between natural and social science approaches? EcologistsEconomists social sciences Measure things that follow from the human mind and human activities Human measurement Where do we define a measure to begin or end? How do we sort them? What is the relation between the industrial society upon which we depend and the ecosystems which we depend on for resources?

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A Total Economic Value Framework Needs: a way to isolate non-marketed (un-priced) elements that humans “value” a way to measure human “value” on these elements best if also know the processes that generate or affect non-market elements and how humans place value on them Ecology Economists

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Ecologists Ecology and related fields Study systems and processes whose time and scope can dwarf human direct experience Naturally difficult to model; difficult to see what to measure, where to focus, where “value” might be (unlike basic economic theory) As with economics beyond the price system, ecologists who care about what humans value are faced with difficulty of what to measure. Another blind spot?

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Economy Ecologists What are ecosystem services, and how do we measure them in a “meaningful” way? ES need to be classified, but by whom and to what purpose? Can the classification be standardized so that the needs of different academic fields may be accommodated?

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Ecologists Impasse: much of field not moving toward measuring ES in a way policy makers can use Problems when attempting to quantify from MEA classification: 1) benefits ≠ services 2) not a set of clear, unique, unduplicated, measures MEA classification mixes “processes (means) for achieving services and the services themselves (ends) within the same classification strategy” Boyd and Banzhaf (2007)

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Classify Types of FEGS, to map a pathway by which any ES can pass in any way from the ecosystem into the human value chain Draw on methods used (by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies) to classify goods and services exchanged in the market economy – NAICS: How are ECONOMIC goods and services produced/ Who produces (SUPPLY SIDE) – NAPCS: How are ECONOMIC goods and services used/ Who consumes (DEMAND SIDE)

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Aid in analyzing impacts of policy-induced marginal changes in ecosystems on human welfare: -support cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and distributional analyses -establish the logical structure for mapping how ecosystem changes affect human welfare, and develop a policy application - further research (ORD) will make this structure more useful to policy makers (OW & OAR) using the application Align EPA Office objectives and resources to build a common framework to bring relevant non-marketed ecosystem services (ES) more directly to bear in policy decision making

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 research and programs do not approach ES issues in an institutionally efficient way  each group faces limited money and time, so have a natural incentive to narrow their own effort  inadequate signaling of needs and coordination efforts between offices  old constraints remain new constraints  methods and databases are more likely to be built without coordination to make them useable for other objectives, other offices, or other agencies With NESCS:  we will eventually want rules/dynamics for production of FEGS, will want models for how and why systems will be stressed to threshold levels  EPA Offices become more discretely aware of other Offices’ needs

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Development and Deepening: Iterative Development of Methods and Metrics; Database Mergers Iterative Development of Policy Application Tool

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Application and Evolution: Iterative Development of Methods and Metrics; Database Mergers Iterative Development of Policy Application Tool